Preparation of firewood for burning often involves splitting log sections into smaller pieces. The traditional manual method involves a person placing a log section onto a stump and splitting the log section with an axe, a splitting maul, and/or wedge (hereinafter, an “axe”). As the person splits the log section, the pieces (or even the entire log section) fall to the ground, typically after each blow. The split pieces must be picked up and repositioned on the stump for further splitting or must be picked up to be stacked or piled. Bending to pick up the split pieces may result in back strain and slows down the process of manually splitting firewood. In addition, the pieces may no longer be stable when placed on the stump, notwithstanding that they may require additional splitting. The person may attempt to split a piece, notwithstanding that it is not stable on the stump, resulting in risk of injury.
People have developed a technique of wrapping a rope or elastic cord around a log section, splitting the wrapped log section, and walking radially around the wrapped log section to continue splitting the log section into multiple, smaller, pieces. While this reduces the amount of bending and lifting, wrapping the log section and unwrapping the pieces takes time, the unwrapped pieces are apt to fall to the ground (requiring bending and lifting), and the axe or wood pieces may become entangled with and/or cut the rope or elastic cord during the splitting process, resulting in unpredictable and potentially hazardous circumstances.
Power splitting machines are available, but they cost a significant amount relative to an individual's need to split a quantity of wood for one season, they operate slowly, often with inconvenient safety checks and features, they require fuel or electricity, lubricants, maintenance, they take up space and are difficult to store, and the initial log section and then split pieces must be arranged on the splitter and picked up, which involves bending, back strain, and human interaction with relatively high-power and potentially dangerous mechanical equipment.